Teddy Lupin and the Resurrection Stone
by MuteMath788
Summary: Eleven year old Teddy Lupin is off to his first year at Hogwarts. On the way he befriends three other boys and with them becomes one of the Vandals, but what happens when he finds a mysterious stone in the floor of the Forbidden Forest? ON HIATUS
1. Prologue

**Hey all! Here's my new fic about Teddy Lupin's first year at Hogwarts, 'Teddy Lupin and the Resurrection Stone'. I'm pretty excited about it, so I hope you guys will like it! **

**Full Summary: **Eleven-year-old Teddy Lupin is about to complete his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but on the way, he learns the secrets about his parents that he never knew, meets three other boys who, with them, becomes one of the Vandals, and experiences his first troubles with girls. But what happens when Teddy discovers a strange stone in the floor of the Forbidden Forest, with unusual markings on it - the same stone Harry Potter could have left in that forest eleven years ago?

**Disclaimer: **Unfortunately, I do not own Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling does and she's sitting on a goldmine because of something she wrote on a napkin.

* * *

The sky above was completely overcast. Dark clouds loomed overhead ominously and the air was damp and heavy, showing obvious signs that there was rain in the forecast for that evening. Harry and Ginny Potter, who'd been married almost six months, walked solemnly with their fingers enlaced, alongside none other than most of the Weasley family. The whole lot of them was clad in black or dark-colored robes as they silently made their way to the cemetery.

They were going to visit the grave of Fred Weasley, who had died almost five years ago, fighting the Dark forces of Lord Voldemort. As he thought back, Harry still remembered stumbling into the Great Hall during the battle when he was just seventeen, still a boy, and seeing Fred's body lined up with all the others who'd died fighting Voldemort. Next to Fred's body were the bodies of - Harry swallowed a lump in his throat with difficulty - Remus John Lupin and his wife, Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin. The loss of them had affected Harry more than he'd imagined.

Mrs. Weasley was already crying as they made it to the cemetery. Tears spilled down her face as they walked through the gradually rusting wrought-iron gates, and started down the long, winding, cobblestone path. As Harry looked around, he felt as if everything had been put into the perspective of a black-and-white photograph; the color of the tombstones and unhealthy-looking grass mixed with the stormy sky above produced an eerie feeling in the pit of his stomach as well.

Hearing a sniffling noise to his left as they passed all the graves, Harry turned his head to see that Ginny was also on the verge of bursting into tears. Squeezing her hand tightly as if telling her without words that he was there for her as her husband, he looked down at her and met her eyes, making sure he transferred a comforting look to her.

But he noticed a few tears fall from her eyes anyway. Harry let go of her hand and put his arm around her, holding her close to him. As quietly as he could, he said to her and her alone, "It'll be all right." But he himself felt as though it were a foolish thing to say.

"Where is it?" came a sudden voice from Harry's right. Clinging onto his other hand was five-year-old Teddy Lupin, looking clueless as he walked with the adults. The only other one close to his age here was Victoire Weasley, Bill and Fluer's daughter, who was four.

"It's just up here, Teddy," Harry answered his godson in a quiet tone of voice. "We're almost there, don't worry."

Harry could barely hear Teddy's reply, for he'd been distracted by his own thoughts. Harry could not believe that it had already been five years since he'd killed Voldemort, and it had been within Hogwarts's very walls. He would never forget that gold blast of light from the collision of his and Voldemort's spells, and the way Voldemort fell when he was defeated…

"Here," said Mr. Weasley suddenly, breaking Harry out of his trance. He looked up from the ground, where he'd been watching his feet take their steps for him. He felt Teddy's tiny hand slide out of his big one. They'd arrived at Fred's grave. Ginny immediately burst into tears and flung herself into Harry's arms to cry on his shoulder while Harry stared at the tombstone in a mixture of awe and remorse.

Memories of all the times he'd spent with Fred flowed through his mind. He remembered when Fred had been there with George to give him the Marauder's Map, teaching him all the secrets about it…there were all the jokes and laughs shared at the Gryffindor table at Hogwarts, or at the table at the Burrow…the products he'd developed with George for Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, and tested on the unsuspecting Hogwarts students…

Then it dawned on Harry that this was the exact same graveyard that Remus and Tonks had been buried in. Feeling the uncontrollable, overwhelming need to go and visit their graves, he let go of Ginny and told her, "I'll be right back." With that, he left her and the others and continued down the cobblestone path in search of the tombstones of Remus and Tonks.

He found them buried side-by-side on a hill, quite distanced from Fred's grave. Harry read their names over and over again, mouthing them to remember how it felt on his tongue. And then the few memories flooded his head.

It was almost six years ago that he'd found out about the couple's secret romantic troubles with each other, and shortly after, they'd actually gotten married and had a son - Teddy. They'd _just _had their son; why did life have to be so unfair? Harry thought in anger. Remus had been his only remaining father figure after Sirius and Dumbledore had died, and Harry pitied himself immediately - the last thing he'd said to Remus was that he was a coward for abandoning his wife and unborn child, afraid to take in the responsibility of becoming a father, let alone a husband. Harry wished he'd gotten closer to him, and he regretted the things he'd said that fateful night at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, but then again, he _had _gone back to Tonks.

He remembered standing in Remus's office at thirteen years of age, the day Remus had taught him the Patronus Charm, back in his short-lived teaching days of Defence Against the Dark Arts.

He remembered Tonks's trademark greeting of "wotcher".

It wasn't much to remember at all, but it still made a couple of tears slide down and drip off his nose.

"Harry?"

He looked up. A dark-haired Teddy was standing a few feet away from him, wearing a puzzled look upon his round, boyish face. The young boy walked up to him and asked naively, "Why are you crying? Whose graves are these?"

Harry bit his tongue, realizing that Teddy couldn't read the names on the headstones, unable to read just yet. He swallowed and blinked back tears as he said, "They're your mum and dad's graves, Ted."

"Oh," said little Teddy solemnly. It was obvious that a great wave of emotion had crashed over him. Harry could tell this by the look on his face.

"Yeah," he said, forcing out an uneasy laugh, embarrassed that he'd been crying in front of his godson. He pulled Teddy into a hug, like his dead father would have done.

"How did they die?" asked Teddy, and Harry could tell by his jumping voice that he was crying as well.

Deciding that Teddy was too young to know, Harry told him, "I'll tell you when you're older, Teddy…"

"Harry? Teddy?"

Harry recognized Ron's voice immediately. He looked up at him through blurred vision and Ron said, "Blimey, Harry, you all right?"

Harry stood up with Teddy, wiping off his face with a handkerchief from his pocket and then proceeding to do the same for Teddy. "'M fine," he answered Ron.

"Good, 'cause we're leaving," said Ron.

"So soon?"

Ron blinked. "We've been here at least a half hour, mate," he said, giving Harry a confused look. "You sure you're all right?"

Harry realized he might have spent more time at Remus and Tonks's graves than he thought, and he nodded and shrugged. "Yeah…Let's go."

He felt Teddy grasp his hand tightly as they followed Ron together back down the cobblestone path just as rain began to fall…

* * *

**That's the end of the prologue, then - tell me if you liked this little tidbit or not, and review it! I've been working on the first chapter for a couple weeks or so now, so expect it to be good. It should be up in the next, I dunno, day or two. Keep your eyes peeled! **

**My plans for this fic are to take it to the whole 7-book series. I'm already making plans for future 'books', and it's exciting, really. I'll be back soon...**


	2. The Photo Album

**I'd like to thank everybody who reviewed over the past couple of days! I hope this one gets as good as my Remus/Tonks story, which I'm also currently working on. Doing two fics at once will be a little hard (this took me two weeks to write, this chapter). So, without further ado, I present you the first chapter of Teddy Lupin and the Resurrection Stone. Enjoy it, because it's the longest chapter I've ever written of anything…**

Eleven-year-old Teddy Lupin was a slightly tall, thin boy with thick, shaggy dark hair that fell to a length just below his ears. His eyes were a grey color, a constant reminder of a rainy day because of the sadness that was always reflected in them. They usually gave off the image that Teddy was someone who was lonely and had been struck down all his life, despite the fact that he usually had a smile on his face. His genuine smile would bring out the happiness in people, which was a quality about himself he'd always loved. However, the only thing he considered to be unique or different about himself was the fact that he was a Metamorphmagus, able to change his appearance at will. With this special ability, he'd entertained the faces at the dinner table countless times, thoroughly enjoying making people laugh.

Teddy often considered himself to be an average young man, for someone like him. He was eternally grateful to live in a nice home, where he was loved very much, and where he could always count on a delicious home-cooked meal every evening to fill his dinner plate.

But through all the good in Teddy's life, past all the people who loved him, there was something important that wasn't there. A significantly large chunk of his life was missing, and he would never gain it back, no matter how many falling stars he may have wished upon.

Teddy's parents were dead.

Remus and Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin had died when Teddy was just a couple months old. He never knew the reason they had died early deaths, because his godfather, who just happened to be the _famous _Harry Potter, had apparently early-on decided that Teddy would not know how his parents died until he was old enough to have received his letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This said, Teddy simply could not wait until the special Hogwarts owl post would come later that summer.

In the meantime, he'd been spending his summer at the Potters', having fun with his godfather's three young children and enjoying the holiday while still excited for his upcoming first year at Hogwarts.

Teddy was now lying comfortably on his back in the green grass of the Potters' front yard with his hands behind his head. He let the grass blades embrace the outline of his body while watching the clouds go by in the brilliant blue sky above. It would have been easy for one to tell that the boy was deep in though, judging by his unblinking eyes and his stone expression. An oddly-shaped cloud was now taking its time passing overhead, and it shook Teddy out of his thoughts as its shape caught his eye. It looked like a dog, or something closely resembling a dog, as he pointed out its head, four legs, and a long, fluffy tail - and that was when it hit him.

He sat up suddenly, his back perfectly straight. _Dad._

He wondered. Could this be a message sent to him by his parents in heaven? Could his mother or father be trying desperately to communicate with him? Could they be trying to tell him that they were longing to be with him, to talk to him, to know and love their son?

But Teddy lay back down in the grass, calling himself delusional for thinking such absurd thoughts. He guessed his brain had just been burned out by the sun, but he liked the warmth of its rays as opposed to the rainy weather they'd been having recently. He retreated to watching the clouds pass, trying not to let the image of the wolf-shaped cloud re-enter his mind. He relaxed as he lay there, thinking, letting his mind wander freely, almost asleep under the hot sun.

As he listened to the distant-sounding noises of the Potter family flowing out through the open front window, he thought about how much he loved to stay with them. He was a useful hand to Ginny when she needed housework done, and was always interested in Harry's work at the Ministry of Magic. He simply enjoyed holding baby Lily in his arms, cradling her and making funny faces at her. He'd take James and Albus, Harry and Ginny's two older sons, to the playground down the street, where he'd push them on the swings, where he was barely able to make it down the slides, and where he'd take turns on the seesaw with the two of them. Getting on the other end of the seesaw and staying up in the air on his side was particularly tough, whether he was on it with four-year-old James or three-year-old Albus, because Teddy was so much heavier than either of them. But still, he managed, only to make them happy.

A cloud that looked like a flower passed by. Teddy barely managed to catch a glimpse of it, because he had closed his eyes and had just reopened them. He imagined he looked peaceful as he lay there near the flowerbed, listening to young James ask his mother to look at a picture he'd drawn - on the walls. Ginny's exasperated speech to her son lost him, and he propped himself up on his elbows. He watched a fair-skinned, rather hulky boy strut down the sidewalk casually. As the boy caught Teddy's eyes watching him, he flashed him a rude hand gesture and then took off running down the long stretch of sidewalk until he was out of view, as if Teddy would have tried to get him in trouble.

Teddy merely smirked as he shrugged and lay back down. The boy's name was Isaac Turner, and he was the only other boy who lived on the same street as the Potters'. He was a Muggle, and a couple years older than Teddy. While Teddy was at the Potters', there were no other children from Wizarding families for him to play with, so he'd counted on Isaac as his last resort. Isaac was a rude boy who liked to pick on Teddy half the time, but he was a lonely boy and still showed up at the Potters' doorstep asking for Teddy to come out and play. Teddy, to be polite, had never refused hanging out with him, and one day as they walked down to the playground, Isaac had decided to push his making fun of Teddy a bit too far.

Two weeks ago, Teddy had been sitting in the bedroom he was staying in while at his godfather's house for the summer, bored, wishing for something to do. He'd been listening to the radio all morning, until he heard the doorbell ring around noon, Ginny's voice calling out his name seconds after.

Slipping on his tennis shoes, Teddy raced to the front door, hoping it would be someone like the Weasleys who'd come to visit, but instead, he found Isaac, who wore a typical bored expression on his face and a lime green windbreaker.

"Hi," greeted Isaac quietly, putting on a good impression of a sweet, innocent boy. "Let's go to the playground. Ready?"

"Yeah," grunted Teddy rather unhappily as he said his "see you later" to Ginny, who told him to be home in time for lunch one hour later.

Teddy walked with Isaac down to the playground, not saying much over Isaac's loud conversational talk, saying something about his father's car breaking down. Teddy hadn't the slightest clue what the other boy was talking about, for Isaac didn't know he came from a Wizarding family, but he still offered his, "that stinks" every few seconds as he pretended to listen while not caring a bit.

"So the car's been dead for a week or so, now," Isaac was saying as they walked through the mulch at the playground, which was completely deserted that day, "and we've got no way to get places…We've been having to walk everywhere, isn't that a drag?"

"Yeah, that sucks," said Teddy mechanically, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"And the bastard that my dad asked to come fix the car, he's always so busy with his own life and all, he won't be coming till next week!" Isaac exclaimed, sounding angry. "I'll have to be walking everywhere these days. The candy shop is too long of a walk. I swear, if that mechanic doesn't come next week, I'll knock him out, I'll tell ya!"

"Knock him out," repeated Teddy, wishing Isaac hadn't come to his door, yet still glad someone had rescued him from his boredom, even if it was someone was crude as Isaac Turner.

They were now standing at the entrance to an emerald-colored tube slide. Teddy leaned on the railing in the fort of the equipment and looked around the playground, hoping the small girl from two doors down would come around. At least she had come from a Wizarding family like him, and she was the cutest girl Teddy had ever seen.

"You listening?" Isaac questioned suddenly, breaking Teddy away from his thoughts.

"Huh?" Teddy looked up at Isaac's face, which looked back down at him with disapproval.

"What in the world's on your head, is that your hair?" said Isaac, completely changing the subject from the poor marks on his last report card. Teddy stared back at him defensively.

"What about my hair?" Teddy said, surprised of the unintentional anger building in his voice.

"Looks like an animal crawled up on your head an' died there," Isaac went on, the cruelty showing in his furrowed, confused brow. "Horsehair like that, you've got to have inherited that from your parents, aye? I'd be embarrassed to have hair like that, don't you ever comb it? Don't people mistake you for wearing a fur hat or something?"

Teddy gritted his teeth so tightly he felt as if they might pop out.

"Bet you got that from your dad or something, or at least your mum, she had to be at least twice as ugly as you," Isaac said as if he didn't realize Teddy's quickly reddening face. "Ain't your parents dead anyway?"

"Shut up," Teddy said in a sudden change of tone, which was unfortunately something quiet and scared.

"Little Teddy Bear is going to cry!" yelled Isaac, as if he were announcing it to the world. "Teddy Bear misses his parents, boo hoo!" He laughed a mean, shrill laugh, and that was when Teddy lost it, and he shoved the big bully to the side in anger.

Isaac looked shaken up and he stared at Teddy for a moment, bewildered, before rounding on him, yelling, "I'll show you to push me like that, you little bitch!"

But Teddy ducked out of the way just in time as Isaac made a grab for him with his big hands, and he slid down the emerald chute, making it out safely at the bottom. Isaac, in his confused, frustrated wake, followed him down the slide, but certain yells and screams of fury told Teddy that Isaac wasn't coming out.

"Teddy! Help me, I'm stuck!"

Teddy stared in awe at the slide. How in the world could Isaac have gotten stuck? He should have made it out just fine, like Teddy had. Puzzled, he looked around for someone, and found the least likely person he'd have wanted to see passing by the park: Mrs. Turner.

It had taken a lot for Teddy to explain to himself, even, because the fire department had shown up to take apart the slide to get Isaac out. Isaac had insisted Teddy had something to do with it, but Teddy's innocent appearance to the firefighters had enforced something else. Fortunately, Harry had found humor in this, and had congratulated his godson, who had no idea what he'd done.

Teddy smiled at the white clouds as this came to mind. Since that day, Isaac hadn't returned to the doorstep asking Teddy if he wanted to go out and play. Teddy didn't mind this at all - it was Ginny who had insisted that if he was the only other boy in the neighborhood, then he should be nice.

He propped himself up on his elbows again and watched a squirrel climb up the oak tree in the front yard, now thinking about his upcoming first year at Hogwarts. He'd heard thousands of stories from Harry and the others about what the castle was like, and what their personal lives at the school had been like. He was excited to go to Hogwarts. He wondered if he'd be sorted into Gryffindor, like his father, or Hufflepuff, like his mother. He wanted to be like his father and become a Gryffindor, just like him, but it was hard for him to be like someone whom he'd never met.

Teddy closed his eyes. He could somehow remember his father's soft, gentle smile when he looked at his son and his mother's unforgettable shade of pink hair and her bright smile. He didn't know where the memory came from - he was convinced he'd merely just imagined it from having so many photographs ingrained into his head, but it seemed so _real. _

And oh, how he wished it was real…

"Teddy, d'you want any lunch?"

The all-too-familiar voice of his godfather startled Teddy and made him jump. He sat up and looked at Harry, who was hanging out of the front door, looking at him as he waited for him to answer. Teddy answered finally in a quiet tone, "No. I'm not really hungry, thanks…"

Harry must have sensed that something was wrong, because in seconds he was sitting next to Teddy, putting an arm around his shoulders in a fatherly sort of way. This only caused Teddy to wriggle out of Harry's grasp: If someone was going to put an arm around him like that, it was going to be his father and nobody but him.

"You all right, Ted?" asked Harry, sounding confused. Teddy avoided his eyes.

"Fine," said Teddy, averting his gaze back to the oak tree. He sat hugging his knees to his chest, wanting so badly to keep his eyes off Harry, but yet, he wanted to look at him. Harry had always been there for him, like a father, but it was still uncomfortable at times…

There was a pause, and then Harry said, "You sure you don't want any lunch?"

"Positive." Teddy wanted him so much to leave so he could be alone to sit on the lawn of number seventeen, Chardonnay Lane. But part of him wanted to give in and go inside to eat, for he knew he was hungry. His stomach growled just then, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry smile.

"C'mon, let's go inside. It's far too hot to be sitting out here all day."

He stood, and after giving Teddy a helping hand, they went into the house, where Teddy was embraced by the welcoming air conditioner. It seemed so much darker inside than he'd remembered, and it took his eyes a minute to get used to it. It felt so much better inside than out, and he smiled as he walked into the kitchen, where Ginny was feeding a stubborn Lily, and James and Albus were finishing up peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches.

"Lily not eating?" Harry asked his wife, who shook her head.

"Haven't the slightest clue why," Ginny responded. "She's been crying because she's hungry, but maybe it's just the fact that _I'm _the one holding the spoon." She laughed and looked at Teddy. "Would you mind feeding her? She actually likes you."

"How can a baby not like her mother?" Teddy asked, but he took the baby food anyway and dipped the tiny spoon in the disgusting green substance. He looked Lily straight into her bright green eyes and said, "Okay, here we go, ready to eat, Lily?"

Lily stared back, making grunting noises.

"I'll take that as a yes, then," Teddy said, raising the spoon to her mouth. "In we go…"

Lily opened her mouth and Teddy slipped the spoonful of what was labeled peas into her mouth, and she smiled at him, clapping her tiny hands and yelling something in gibberish. She giggled, and Teddy grinned at her.

"Well, that proves it, then, she simply adores you," Ginny said to Teddy, who chuckled. "Will you feed her while I make you lunch?"

"Sure, I don't mind," Teddy said, feeding Lily another spoonful. After this particular bite, she started clapping again and saying fragments of what sounded like his name. Teddy laughed, loving the happy glow that emanated from the baby.

"Doesn't she know how to talk?" asked a naïve James as he put his plate on the counter next to the sink for his mother to tend to. "I know _I _could talk when I was that age. I was always a _smart _baby, wasn't I, Daddy?" He looked up at his father for assurance, who looked blankly around the room.

"Er…sure you were, son," Harry said, patting his eldest on his back. "You were the smartest baby I ever knew. Now go clean your room." He shooed him off, and little Albus followed with peanut butter all over his face. As soon as they were gone, Harry winked at Teddy, who smiled back.

Sometime later, Teddy was finishing his own sandwich as he sat across from his godfather, who appeared to be reading the _Daily Prophet _carefully. Ginny was wiping off the counters in the kitchen and humming a tune to herself, becoming startled when her husband suddenly said, "I don't see your article in here!"

Ginny walked over and looked over Harry's shoulder and frowned, furrowing her brow. "Strange," she said. "Maybe it wasn't good enough or something…"

"Not good enough!" Harry repeated. "It's the article about the preseason, surely it's good enough. Don't you think, Teddy?"

Teddy looked up from his sandwich. "Definitely," he answered quietly.

Harry smiled and put the paper down. "Whatever…I s'pose it's a little early for Quidditch preseason buzz."

At this particular moment, there was a loud hoot and a large tawny owl swooped in through the window, dropping a letter on the table, and it quickly went back out through the window. Teddy and Harry both stared at the letter with wide eyes, and they made a grab for it at the same time. Teddy managed to get it first, and he read the address lines with shaking hands:

_Mr. Teddy R. Lupin_

The first line was all he read before violently tearing open the envelope to pull out the letter inside, his hands still shaking, and he read the words written with a big smile upon his face:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
__of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY  
__Headmaster: Nicolas Frost_

Dear Mr. Lupin,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment for the school year.  
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Abigail Phanan,  
_Deputy Headmistress_

Teddy looked excitedly up at his godfather. "This is it!" he said. "This is my Hogwarts letter! Here - read it!" He thrust the parchment at Harry, grinning from ear to ear, and he reached inside for the second piece of paper, and he read:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
__of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

UNIFORM  
First-year students will require:  
Three sets of plain work robes - black  
One plain pointed hat for day wear - black  
One pair of protective gloves - dragon hide or similar  
One winter cloak - black with silver fastenings

Please note that all students' clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:  
_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), _by Miranda Goshawk  
_A History of Magic, _by Bathilda Bagshot  
_Magical Theory, _by Adalbert Waffling  
_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, _by Emeric Switch  
_One Thousand Herbs and Fungi, _by Phyllida Spore  
_Magical Drafts and Potions, _by Arsenius Jigger  
_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, _by Newt Scamander  
_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, _by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT  
1 wand  
1 cauldron - pewter, standard size 2  
1 set of glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set of brass scales

Students may also bring either an owl, cat, OR toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

Teddy again looked up at Harry. Excitement filled every vein in his body and he felt like jumping out of his chair and onto the table to start dancing. "When do we go school shopping?" he asked quickly. "Oh, we've got to send them my owl before the thirty-first - what day is it? The twentieth, right?" He was still grinning. "Think Gran will get me a broomstick anyway? I mean, if I sneak it into Hogwarts, I'm sure they won't notice - "

"Teddy! Breathe," interrupted Harry, smiling as well. "I don't know when to go school shopping. We can go soon if you want, I s'pose. And they won't let you have a broomstick regardless. Trust me - kids have been caught before. I don't want you getting in trouble, and I don't think your grandmother does, either."

"Darn it," Teddy said, folding his arms and looking away. "Can we go shopping soon? I want to get my robes!"

"Relax," said Harry. "We'll go soon. I'll write to them and let them know you're going."

"Harry, will you tell me 'bout your first year at Hogwarts?" Teddy asked suddenly, posing a complete change of subject.

"My first year?" Harry said, raising his eyebrows. "Anxious, are we?" He laughed a little and cleared his throat. "My first year was…well, incredible, if I can sum it up in one word." He paused, appearing to be thinking. "I met Ron and Hermione that year, and I played on the Quidditch team as the Seeker."

"But you said first years aren't allowed to play on House teams!" Teddy interjected, feeling a strange feeling of jealousy rise up within him.

"It was an exception; one of the teachers wanted me to play for Gryffindor," Harry went on, "because I was so talented on a broomstick, I guess. I had no clue what was going on, really. The entire first couple of months of my first year I didn't, but that's because I was raised by my Muggle aunt and uncle and didn't know anything about Hogwarts. I didn't even think it possible to perform magic."

"Good thing I'm raised by Gran," said Teddy, "or, in this summer's case, you guys." He smiled brightly as Harry ruffled his hair.

"You got it," Harry said. "What else about my first year? Well…there were a lot of things. In my first Quidditch match, I nearly swallowed the Snitch."

Teddy burst into howls of laughter. "You almost _swallowed _it?" he said, barely getting the words out over his giggles. "How in the world did you do that, Harry?"

Harry laughed a little himself and his cheeks even turned slightly pink at the memory, which had been so long ago. "I dunno," he said through smiling teeth. "But I coughed it out and we won the match. I think," he added thoughtfully. "I can't even remember that well."

"What's the Sorting like?" Teddy asked.

"Teddy, you've asked at least a hundred times," answered Harry exasperatedly. "For me, it was nerve-wracking and frightening, but that was just because I didn't really know what was going on. I thought it would have been silly things, like pulling a rabbit out of the Hat or some other Muggle magic superstition, but I was completely wrong. Once it's over it isn't that bad." He paused. "But it's a little eerie when the Hat speaks to you in your ear."

"It talks to you?" Teddy said wildly, thoroughly amused. "That's cool!"

"Frightening," Harry said again. "What house d'you think you'll be in, Ted?"

"Oh, I don't know…My mum was in Hufflepuff, but my dad was in Gryffindor. I want to be like my dad."

Harry smiled warmly. "I know what you're talking about," he said. "I think you're more of a Gryffindor than a Hufflepuff. But you do show a little Slytherin in you for your cunningness to steal cookies out of the cookie jar…" He winked at Teddy, who laughed.

"I'm not a Slytherin," he said confidently, "that's for sure. I think I'll be put in Gryffindor." He glanced around the room. "I want to play Quidditch in my first year, too!"

"If you can prove yourself worthy in flying class," said Harry, rising out of his chair and walking out of the kitchen. "I've got to go to work, Ted, but I'll be back later," he called over his shoulder as he gathered his things off the desk in his study, and then vanished.

* * *

It was midnight and Teddy could not sleep. He lay on his side under a thin sheet as the warm, nighttime breeze flowed in gently through the window of the living room, otherwise known as Teddy's room for the summer. As the days passed and the first of September drew closer, Teddy found he was spending more and more sleepless nights staring at the ceiling, thinking about his upcoming first year at Hogwarts. He wondered if he'd make a lot of friends on his first day and become popular, or if he wouldn't make many friends at all and would remain in the shadows.

They were going to go shopping for his school supplies tomorrow. He couldn't wait. As bad as he wanted a broomstick, his grandmother said she wouldn't get him one until he played on his House's Quidditch team, but that still generated a spark of hope in Teddy's stomach. He knew he'd be on the team next year in a flash. He was going to be a Chaser and fulfill his need for speed and fame by scoring as many points as he could.

Sighing, Teddy threw the sheet off him angrily and sat up on the couch, rubbing his eyes. He turned on the lamp, which was on the end table, and sat back in the couch's cushions, looking around the room for something that would satisfy his restless mind for a few minutes before attempting to go to sleep again. Harry was not yet home from the Ministry and he worried a little, but he figured he'd gone over to Ron's. As he searched the room, something that looked like a large, bulky book resting on the living room desk caught his eye. He walked over to the desk and sat down in the chair, looking at the object: It was an old, battered photo album. It was an ugly brown color and it looked worn down. Teddy brought it with him back to the couch and balanced the huge thing on his knees, opening it. He coughed as dust flew out of the inside cover and infiltrated his nostrils and mouth.

The first picture was of a couple around Harry and Ginny's age, hugging each other, appearing to be dancing around in the picture. The man looked a lot like Harry, and that was when Teddy realized that it was James and Lily Potter - Harry's parents.

Teddy had often embraced the fact that his godfather was just like him, in a way. His parents had been killed when he was a baby as well, so he knew what it was like without a mother to tuck you in at night, or a father to learn everything about Quidditch from. Harry was almost like he guessed his father would have been at times, and it was as close as Teddy could get to his own dad.

Turning the page, Teddy now saw a picture of four boys, all around his age. The first one had dark-colored hair that may have been black, and he wore glasses. He had his arm around another dark-haired boy with lengthier hair, and an easy smile upon his face. The third boy was short and somewhat plump and was smiling too. As a matter of fact, they were all smiling, and Teddy was too until his eyes fell upon the last boy in the picture.

This boy had dark brown hair, exactly like his own. He wore a very calm, friendly-looking expression on his face, and even with such a mellow face he looked happy and excited to be with these other boys. Teddy felt his face fall into lines of misery at the sight of his eleven-year-old father.

As he turned the pages, he found more and more photos of these four boys, going through their teenage years at Hogwarts. There were photos from what looked like a ball around the time of their fourth year or so, some of James Potter holding a golden Snitch with the other three around him looking mischievously at the camera, one of James and Lily Potter together in their seventh year or so, and a picture of the four boys and Lily at what looked like a graduation ceremony.

Teddy went on to find a few pictures of a young-looking Harry with Ron and Hermione, at Honeydukes in Hogsmeade, and on the grounds of Hogwarts. Teddy recognized the lightning-shaped scar on his godfather's forehead almost immediately.

"Teddy?" came a sudden voice, and Teddy jumped, turning to see Harry's contorted face showing confusion as he quietly closed the front door behind him. Teddy guessed he hadn't heard him come in. "What are you doing up so late at night?" Harry asked while undoing the buttons to his traveling cloak, then throwing it on the chair by the couch.

"What are _you _doing getting home so late?" Teddy asked, avoiding his question. Harry had never been home so late before. He would always walk through the door five minutes before dinner, then receiving the usual clingy hugs from his young sons, and he'd kiss his baby daughter and wife, and hug Teddy as well. Tonight, though, it was different: All of them had been worrying about Harry rather than focusing on their dinner.

Harry sighed. "A few of my friends and some of my co-workers at the Ministry decided to throw a slightly early surprise birthday party for me," he answered, looking tired. "I didn't want to abandon you lot tonight, of course, but…it was a party, and I can't leave my own birthday party, can I?" He shrugged, obviously feeling helpless, and he sat down on the couch next to Teddy. "What's this?" he asked, gesturing to the photo album Teddy was balancing on his knees, but he figured it out on his own by looking at the old photos of himself. "Where'd you find this?"

"On the desk," Teddy answered, pointing at the small reading desk where Ginny sometimes wrote her Quidditch article for the _Daily Prophet. _"That's you, isn't it?" he asked, turning back to the picture he'd just been looking at. "And you're with Ron and Hermione."

"Right," said Harry, "that one was in my first year…I was your age."

"Yeah…" Teddy flipped to the picture of his father with his own friends. It was now that he realized there was a caption underneath the photograph. It read, 'THE MARAUDERS'. He looked up at Harry and asked, "The Marauders?" What in the world was that supposed to mean? He looked at the photo, at the four boys' smiling faces.

"The Marauders were a group of four boys that included my father and my godfather, Sirius Black, and your dad, and a kid named Peter Pettigrew," Harry explained. "They all had nicknames. My dad's Animagus form was a stag, so his nickname was Prongs. Sirius's was Padfoot because his Animagus was a big black dog, and Peter Pettigrew's was Wormtail, because…well, can you guess?"

"Wormtail…" Teddy repeated, thinking. "So…he was a mouse? Or a rat, or something?"

"Yes, he was a rat," Harry said, smiling.

"What about my dad's nickname?" Teddy asked, wondering what his father's friends had called him while he was a student at Hogwarts. "What was he?"

"Remus was Moony," Harry answered quietly, "because…"

"Because he was a werewolf," Teddy finished. "He was bit and could still go to school with…_that _kind of thing, er, going on?" He didn't know the words to say. He and Harry hadn't necessarily discussed his father's being a werewolf before. All he knew was that he was one, and that was it.

"He told me he was rather young when he was bit," Harry said. "And of course he could still go to school."

"What about the nights there was a full moon?"

"Dumbledore," continued Harry, "had a couple of places made for him to go to on those nights. He had the Shrieking Shack built in Hogsmeade, and it's supposed to be the most haunted building in Britain - so Dumbledore said." He winked, and Teddy grinned. "And he also had a tree planted on the Hogwarts grounds called the Whomping Willow, and it'd conceal him and all."

"That's cool!" Teddy said. "Can we go to the Shrieking Shack someday and check it out?"

"I don't see why not," Harry said. He sighed and sunk into the couch cushions. It was quiet for a moment. "Your dad was a great man. And your mum was great, too."

"What were they like?"

"Your dad was a quiet guy, more or less," Harry began. "He was one of the greatest wizards I've ever met. He loved having friends and being accepted by others. He always sort of rebuked himself for being a werewolf…"

"How about my mum?"

Harry grinned. "She was rather…beautiful," he said, as if searching for the words to say. "I'm sure you know she was a Metamorphmagus, like you. She had a great sense of humor, too, and was kind of clumsy, but she loved your father very much, as he loved her."

Teddy smiled. "I think I remember you saying they had…I dunno, 'quite a marriage' or something?" he asked, recalling back to a day some time ago when Harry had been talking with Ron about something he couldn't quite remember.

"Quite a marriage?" Harry repeated, first looking at Teddy questionably and then appearing to be locked deep in thought. Finally, he said, "Oh, I know what you're talking about." He paused. "Tonks - I mean, your mum - was in love with your dad forever, but as I later found out, your dad just didn't want to be with her."

"Why?"

"He felt too old for her and too…messed up, if you will," Harry went on. "He didn't want her to marry a werewolf. He didn't think he was worth it."

"But they did get married eventually," Teddy said.

"Yeah," Harry said. "If Remus hadn't come to, you wouldn't have happened. Honestly, I never would have guessed that two people so different as them would be so in love…"

It was silent for a moment after Harry trailed off, except for the loud ticking of the wall clock, which irritated them both. Teddy yawned as he noticed it was one in the morning. He wanted to know everything there was to know about his parents, but he felt like he was missing some important piece of information. He suddenly looked over at his godfather and said, "Harry?"

Harry was resting his head on the back of the couch, his eyes closed. Teddy worried that he was sleeping, but was relieved when he croaked, "Yeah?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Teddy asked, "How did my parents die?" He had never known the true reason his mother and father died. In his younger days, he was told they had died from illness, and the story that there had been a contagious disease spreading, one that had gotten to his parents, had always been ingrained into his young mind.

Harry looked at Teddy, biting his lip, looking as if he was holding something back. "Teddy, you know they died from sickness," he said quietly, now avoiding Teddy's sad grey eyes.

"That's not true," said Teddy immediately, an unrecognizable coldness in his voice. He knew disease didn't kill his parents. He went on defensively, "I think I'm old enough to know now, aren't I?"

Harry let out a heavy sigh, seemingly giving into him. "I suppose you are old enough to know the real reason," he said slowly. "I always told you I'd tell you when you received your Hogwarts letter…"

"Tell me," Teddy urged in a low voice. He began to fear that their deaths had been something horrible as he summed up Harry's tone. He sat on the edge of the couch anxiously, with his elbows resting on his knees as he stared straight ahead, awaiting the worst.

"They were both killed by Death Eaters during the Second War," said Harry quietly, and Teddy's head automatically snapped up to look at him. He went on hesitantly, "They both fought very bravely, Teddy. Both of them were incredible, but…"

"Who killed them?" asked Teddy in a shadow of a whisper.

"Your father was killed by a Death Eater named Antonin Dolohov," Harry answered in such a quiet tone that it was a miracle Teddy could even barely hear him. "And your mother was killed by…by Bellatrix Lestrange, her aunt…"

Teddy suddenly stood up, feeling waves of fury raging in him like fire. "I'll kill her!" he said defiantly, feeling a new kind of anger rising within him like never before.

"Harry smiled a small, yet warm smile at him and said, "It's too late for that, Ted. She's already dead."

"Who killed her?" The question popped out of Teddy more quickly than he'd expected, and he found himself stumbling over his words.

"Molly Weasley - Ron's mum."

Teddy felt a sensation of immense relief upon securing the fact that his mother's own aunt, her murderer, was in fact dead. But on top of that was an undeniable, overpowering sadness as he realized he preferred the sickness story over the painstaking truth. But in the midst of this, he felt a spark of pride for his heroic parents, dying while fighting.

Teddy guessed he'd been silent for a while, because Harry suddenly asked, "You all right, Ted?"

Teddy looked up and into Harry's comforting, welcoming brilliant green eyes and he averted his face away quickly as he felt tears forming in his eyes. He didn't want Harry to see him so sad; he knew he was always giving off such a strong, positive image, and he didn't want anyone to see when he was showing faltering signs of weakness.

But as he felt Harry's fatherly arms enclosing Teddy's slim figure, he felt otherwise and caved into his emotions. He let the tears that had been building up inside him spill down his cheeks, but still hated the fact that he was uncontrollably crying.

"It'll be all right, Ted," Harry said quietly while hugging him.

"I never _ever _got to know them…" whispered Teddy, trying hard not to stutter over his jerking sobs. "I never got to get a clear image of their faces…I bet they didn't even love me that much to leave me behind and go fight!"

Harry let go of Teddy in an instant. "Teddy Remus Lupin," he said in a very low tone, "don't you _ever _say that, because I know for a fact that your parents loved you more than anything. They left to go fight because they wanted to keep you safe. Teddy, they…" He paused, and then the earth-shattering statement made its way into Teddy's ears: "Teddy, they more or less died _for _you."

Teddy had stopped crying, but felt a couple of leftover tears slide down his face. "They died for me…" he whispered, barely able to believe it. His parents had _died, _sacrificing their lives for their only son.

"Look," said Harry putting the old photo album back in Teddy's lap. It was open to a page that had only one photograph on it, stuck right in the center of the page. Teddy looked at it, awestruck as he analyzed the faces.

It was a photo of his mother and father and him as a baby. His mother was smiling brightly at the camera and his father was smiling softly as well. They were holding him between them, and Teddy had been sporting an eye-catching head of turquoise hair at the time the photo was taken. He was smiling too, his toothless mouth open wide, looking as though he were laughing. There was a message written by his father at the bottom, and he read it with shaking hands:

_We're all still alive & well!  
__Baby Teddy is doing great!  
__Love from Remus, Nymphadora, and Teddy Lupin_

Teddy watched his mother wave at the camera and his father move the light brown, graying hair out of his eyes with a slight shake of his head, while his infant self shook his fists energetically. He felt a strong sense of longing for his parents as he wished they had never been killed.

"See?" said Harry. "They loved you! Stop talking that nonsense." He ruffled Teddy's thick hair, which had turned an even darker brown in the past few minutes, so dark it was almost black.

"I love them too," said Teddy solemnly. He looked up at Harry and shook the hair out of his face like his father had in the picture. "Thanks," he said awkwardly, wishing he could tell Harry exactly how much he meant to him. It was incredible how much he treated him like one of his own children.

"No problem, Ted," said Harry, hugging him again and then standing up. "I'm off to bed. We're going school shopping later this week, all right?"

"Yeah," Teddy answered with a small smile as he was reminded of how excited he was to go to Diagon Alley to get his school things. He wiped the tears off of his face and lay down on the couch, reaching up to turn off the lamp.

"Goodnight," said Harry, and he walked off, up the stairs to he and Ginny's bedroom, but Teddy had already fallen fast asleep before he could respond to his godfather.

**My personal thoughts on this chapter reflect the same of my latest work on my other fic as well - I thought it was good and bad at parts. At the beginning, and middle and stuff, I think I did well, but the last bit I'm not as confident about. Anyway, let me know what you think of this. Harry's birthday celebrations and Teddy's trip to Diagon Alley with his godfather coming up soon!**


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